Whipplewood Advisors LLC Makes New $58,000 Investment in American Express (NYSE:AXP)

Whipplewood Advisors LLC bought a new position in American Express (NYSE:AXP) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 196 shares of the payment services company’s stock, valued at approximately $58,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mutual Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of American Express by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 7,849 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $2,119,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new stake in shares of American Express during the 3rd quarter worth about $216,000. Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 13,771 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $3,735,000 after purchasing an additional 1,193 shares during the last quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 5,829 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $1,581,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nadler Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of American Express by 10.3% during the 3rd quarter. Nadler Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,177 shares of the payment services company’s stock worth $319,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. 84.33% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AXP. Truist Financial began coverage on American Express in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $350.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Monness Crespi & Hardt raised their target price on American Express from $330.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Citigroup raised their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $320.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on American Express from $305.00 to $310.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, American Express currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $296.38.

Insider Transactions at American Express

In other American Express news, insider Ravikumar Radhakrishnan sold 9,485 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.17, for a total transaction of $3,027,327.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 13,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,308,795. The trade was a 41.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Raymond Joabar sold 15,179 shares of American Express stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.94, for a total value of $4,765,295.26. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 23,866 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,492,492.04. This trade represents a 38.88 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.11% of the company’s stock.

American Express Price Performance

Shares of NYSE AXP opened at $300.77 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.64, a quick ratio of 1.57 and a current ratio of 1.58. American Express has a fifty-two week low of $214.51 and a fifty-two week high of $326.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.30 billion, a PE ratio of 21.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $307.44 and its 200-day simple moving average is $286.43.

American Express (NYSE:AXP) last issued its earnings results on Friday, January 24th. The payment services company reported $3.04 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.00 by $0.04. American Express had a return on equity of 32.65% and a net margin of 15.36%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that American Express will post 15.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

American Express Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, February 10th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 3rd were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.93%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 3rd. American Express’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 19.99%.

About American Express

American Express Company, together with its subsidiaries, operates as integrated payments company in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the Asia Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, Latin America, Canada, the Caribbean, and Internationally. It operates through four segments: U.S. Consumer Services, Commercial Services, International Card Services, and Global Merchant and Network Services.